Has he returned to his old habit of sudden courtship?
Just when Ilya was about to scold Yusar as usual, Yusar opened his mouth.
“Are you ashamed of your hands?”
What an astute observer.
Elia closed her mouth.
If Leosar admitted this, she felt that her sense of deprivation would increase.
“Take this.
I bought it when I was alone a while ago.”
Yusar took out something and held it out to her.
It was a small box containing hand cream.
The noble girls around them looked at them with faces full of astonishment, when they saw the mark engraved on the cream container.
He was the generous shopkeeper who supplied his products to the Imperial Palace, and was known among the nobles for being expensive, rare, and difficult to obtain.
Even Illya, who was a poor noble girl, only knew of his existence.
“How did you get this?”
Then Yusar answered confidently.
“I can have anything.”
Elia applied the cream to her hands.
The light rose fragrance spreads refreshingly.
As soon as she put it on, her hands became soft like magic.
Yusar asked her while looking at her:
“Do you feel better now?”
Instead of answering, Illya nodded, a smile actually appearing on his lips.
It was a slightly different smile from his usual sly smile.
“Elijah, there is a good saying someone told me, and I will tell you too.”
"What is it?"
Yusar opened his mouth as he looked at her.
“...Don't suffer compared to others.
You're doing well enough now.”
“…!”
Elijah's eyes widened.
This was what she said to him after she saved him when he was about to die during field training.
“In fact, even saying 'You're doing well enough' isn't enough.
You're the best, Elijah.”
Yusar's violet eyes sparkled tenderly.
“In our unit, and for me as well.”
Elijah's eyes twitched.
“So, don’t compare yourself to others.”
Her throat constricted.
She didn't want her feelings to be revealed, so she lowered her head and began to eat the cake greedily with a fork.
“Even when alone, if you want to eat something like this or do something, tell me anytime.
I will help you.”
Elia suppressed her emotions and smiled faintly.
“Others will consider us strange.”
"So what?
I don't care.
As long as I'm with you."
After answering, Yusar raised the teacup in front of him.
“Yusar, thank you.”
Elia thanked him as she looked at him, and he smiled broadly.
She finished eating the rest of the cake.
The light scent of roses emanating from her hands mixed with the sweet scent of cake, filling her with a delightful feeling.
•
“Has time passed so quickly?
Lennox and Axion must be waiting for us.”
Yusar looked at the clock hanging on the wall.
“Package what you want to eat so we can eat it at home.”
Even though she waved her hand dismissively, Yusar insisted on wrapping more sweets and putting them in her hands.
Her hands were full of sweets so sweet they could paralyze the tongue.
Despite the airtight packaging, it had a slight sweet scent.
They left the store and quickly headed towards the bathrooms where Lennox and Axion were.
“This is the shortcut.”
Yusar pointed his finger into a back alley.
Sure, it was like he said, it was a shortcut.
The roof of the towering bathhouse building appeared on the distant horizon.
"Really?!
How did you know?
You've never lived here before."
When I asked him, Yusar replied:
“The structures of the back alleys of the cities are similar.
I have wandered such roads so often when I was young that I know them by heart.”
He continued, scanning the surrounding area.
“Of course, these places are not good when it's dark, a lot of bad people wander around, but since it's daylight now, it's okay.”
When she looked around, she saw a lot of dilapidated and suspicious shops.
Foul-smelling sewerage and garbage were also piled up on both sides of the alley.
Of course, fortunately it was quiet because it was daytime.
That was when they were quickly crossing the back alley.
"Yes!"
A woman's shrill scream pierced their ears.
"Hahaha!
Very pretty!
It will sell well!"
This was followed by a sickening sound of laughter.
Illya turned her head towards the source of the sound, and deep in the alley she saw two burly men surrounding a woman wearing a long hood.
“Such actions usually do not happen in broad daylight...”
Yusar whispered to Ilya, clicking his tongue regretfully.
"Let's go.
We'd better not get involved with these bastards."
But Elia couldn't ignore it.
“These bastards...”
After her barony was completely destroyed by monster attacks, she went to inspect the surrounding villages and saw many horrific scenes.
When villages are destroyed and become extremely poor, vulnerable women and children always become easy prey.
She wanted to save them, but she was completely destroyed and was unable to help them.
She promised herself that if she revived her baronetcy, she would never allow such things to happen before her eyes.
“Elijah, these bastards are too strong to be just thugs.”
Yousar advised:
"Besides, we don't have proper weapons now.
We left the equipment at the unit."
Leaving dangerous weapons behind was part of the holiday rules.
Because causing chaos outside will cause trouble.
Yousar shouted eagerly:
“Plus, if we cause trouble here, our vacation will be canceled immediately!”
If you cause trouble, you'll be right back without question or investigation!
That was the scariest part about getting beaten up by those bastards.
Of course, she, who had been a soldier in her previous life, was fully aware of this.
'She already has a plan.'
Elia carried the bag containing the sweets, approached the thugs and shouted:
“Stop right there!”
"What is this?
Who the fuck is this?"
Now, the men turned their heads towards her.
"He looks like a girl, doesn't he?
Who are you?"
Instead of answering, Illya took out two sweets after removing their wrappers from the bag.
The chocolate cake was famous for being the sweetest in the store.
As soon as the wrapper was unwrapped, the sweet smell of chocolate spread throughout the alley.
"Hahaha!
Are you trying to give us food?"
Instead of answering, Illya forcefully threw the cake at them.
Fuck!
Fuck!
The cake hit their faces precisely!
Their faces became stained chocolate brown.
“This bastard...!”
The thugs raised their hands and wiped the cake stuck to their faces.
Their arms were all smeared with cake.
“I will kill you!”
That was when the thugs were about to rush towards Elijah.
rattle… rattle…
A strange sound echoed throughout the alley.
"What is this?"
Rattling...
Rattling...!!!!
The sound gradually got louder.
It came specifically from the sewers on either side of the alley.
Soon after, black things began rushing out of the sewers.
“What is this!
They are rats!”
Dozens, even hundreds, of flocks of huge, black rats crawled out of the sewers like crazy.
'Sure!'
Illya smiled a self-satisfied smile.
In such a dirty back alley, it is natural for rats to breed and inhabit in abundance.
When I looked at the size of the sewers and the number of rat holes nearby, it was clear that a huge amount of rats inhabited this place.
And these dirty, hungry rats here are madly attracted to the smell of food.
Previously, when she was inspecting the village alleys in her barony, she had unknowingly taken out a biscuit and got into a big problem.
Especially in case of this sweet smell, these rats lose their mind and rush towards it.
'Anyway, they are animals, so they have no perception.'
But their number was much greater than I expected.
Rats filled the entire alley densely.
Indeed, its size was enormous.
'The sewer rats in the capital are really different!'
The rats rushed towards the thugs for a delicious meal.
“Get away!
You rats!”
They waved the knives wildly, but were unable to overcome the constantly scurrying rats.
This was the moment.
The swarms of rats broke through, picked up the fallen hooded girl behind, and ran out of the alley.
"Are you well?"
Ilya tried to see the girl's face under the blanket, but the girl pulled the blanket deeper, covering her face, and whispered:
“Thank you very much.”
Is she shy?
The girl's height was similar to hers.
When she saw the girl standing next to her in front of her with her head bowed, she felt a strange sensation that she could not explain.
'It feels kind of familiar.'
The girl was looking somewhere with her head lowered.
It was the unit commander's badge pinned to the collar of her shirt.
“Hey, this place is dangerous, so to the main road...”
Before she could finish speaking, the girl quickly ran out of the back alley.
•
“Oh my God, I almost got caught.”
The hooded girl came out of the alley and took off her hood.
Her pink locks sparkled in the sun.
Lavinia sighed.
Sneaking around and freely exploring the city was her hidden hobby.
If Keisha had known about this, it would have been a disaster.
Keisha was overly protective of her to the point of exhaustion.
So, she was always careful, but she didn't know that she would find herself in this situation in an alley where she lost her way.
“And what’s worse, they were the ones who saved me, not anyone else.”
I heard that the unit's personnel are on leave today.
Her heart was pounding for fear that her identity would be revealed.
Lavinia looked into the alley.
She remembered the image of the red-haired boy who had just saved her.
It was clearly the cute little boy I had given the badge to earlier.
“Was his name Erhan?
I thought he was just cute...”
Her red lips rose interestingly.
Her golden eyes sparkled with a provocative sparkle.
“...He's kinda handsome?”